All times Eastern

SUNDAY, OCT. 26

America's Loch Ness Monster

Discovery Channel, 10 p.m.

This new special takes us to Lake Champlain, on the Vermont-New York border, for a probe into reported sightings of lake creatures over the centuries. Preceding this show at 9 p.m. is another new special, “Search for the Loch Ness Monster.”

MONDAY, OCT. 27

Journey Home

EWTN, 8 p.m., live

Marcus Grodi's guest is Register film critic Steven Greydanus. A convert from the Dutch Reformed Church, Greydanus is well known for his Web site, the Decent Films Guide (www.decent-films.com). The program re-airs Tuesday at 1 a.m. and 10 a.m., and Saturday at 11 p.m.

TUESDAY, OCT. 28

Nova: The Elegant Universe

PBS, 8 p.m.

The secularists try to hide it, but Catholic scholars know that discoveries in astronomy and physics in recent decades all confirm that God created the universe. Catholic viewers will keep that in mind as they watch this new two-hour special based on physicist Brian Greene's book The Elegant Universe, about string theory, a speculative attempt to form “a theory of everything” and to reconcile quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29

Great Performances

PBS, 8 p.m.

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the inaugural performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. This special includes interviews with celebrities and a short history of the new hall, which Frank Gehry designed.

THURSDAY, OCT. 30

Life on the Rock

EWTN, 8 p.m., live

Guest Dave Sloan's vital topic is “Know Your Stuff: Catholic Street Evangelizing.”

FRIDAY, OCT. 31

Save Our History: Valley Forge

History Channel, 7 a.m.

Tour the log cabins, archaeological excavations and preservation work at Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania. The American soldiers who camped there with General Washington in the terrible winter of 1777-1778 suffered months of hunger, disease and death, all for love of their countrymen and liberty.

SATURDAY, NOV. 1

St. Gerard Majella — A Saint for Our Times

EWTN, 2 p.m.

St. Gerard, pray for us! Born in Muro, south of Naples, St. Gerard (1726-1755) was a Redemptorist lay brother so holy that his superiors had him give conferences to priests and to sisters. He read souls, cured the sick and bilocated. Known as “father of the poor” and “the mothers' saint,” he is invoked for childbirth, pregnancy, preborn babies, the right to life cause, the falsely accused and good confessions. His feast day is Oct. 16.

Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.